Love Island USA Season 7 Is Being Ruined by ‘Sisterhood'

Yahoo

4 hours ago

Peacock
In this op-ed, associate editor Aiyana Ishmael argues that the efforts of the Love Island season 7 cast to recreate the commercial success of the PPG trio from season 6 is negatively impacting the natural chemistry of the Islanders and detracting from the experiences of those in and outside of the villa.
During Love Island USA season 6, audiences were sold a unicorn: stars Serena Page, Leah Kateb, and JaNa Craig forged a genuine friendship while out in Fiji searching for love, a bond not often seen during the epic throes of reality dating television.
Gone were the days of women cattily fighting over men for six weeks. We welcomed in a new era of sisterhood, one slightly more bonded than anyone had ever seen on the reality franchise's seasons past. That undeniable love and support for each other — and their instantly iconic moniker, PPG — made fans of the series invest in anything these three girls were hypothetically selling.
Serena had roughly 2,000 followers on Instagram when the show first premiered last June, and she left the villa with over half a million, which has now turned into over 4 million followers across Instagram and TikTok, a spinoff series on Peacock, and representation from one of the largest media agencies in the country. To say that the power of sisterhood transformed the personal lives of PPG is a gross understatement.
So it was only a matter of time that Love Island USA season 7 producers, contestants, and fans alike would be searching for a way to catch lightning in a bottle once more. Only it seems that we've all quickly forgotten that a successful friendship takes time and work — not just twelve episodes.
Likely due to PPG's success, it feels as though each of season 7's female contestants are overly conscious of the fact that they're being perceived by millions of at-home viewers, and desperately aware that the reality show — and 'sisterhood' — could be an avenue out of corporate purgatory and into influencer freedom, similar to what we saw with Serena, Leah, and JaNa.
We saw these forced attempts straight out of the gate: during episode 2 of the newest season, Huda Mustafa referred to Olandria Carthen and Chelley Bissainthe as her 'sisters,' noting that she was so excited for this 'sisterhood' to grow over the next few weeks. Her sentiments held the same weight as teary-eyed Alabama freshmen 'running home' to their new sorority houses, claiming they've felt the sisterhood from the moment they stepped into their first day of rush. There's a power dynamic they're refusing to address — and a (obviously lacking) suspension of disbelief required of the viewers.
Forming friendships quickly through shared trauma and confined spaces is very common; this concept of deep, profound friendship found amongst a television cast wouldn't be so jarring if we weren't being force-fed the word every few minutes by cast members who only met a few days prior.
Bombshell Amaya Espinal arrived at the villa ready to try her luck at the abysmal group of Love Island men. She decided to kiss Jeremiah Brown — who was coupled up with Huda in the first few episodes — which led to Huda calling Amaya a b*tch, claiming that she could not trust the newcomer because 'she should know' what she and Jeremiah had going on. (Amaya had arrived on the island roughly an hour before Huda's claims and had no prior knowledge of their relationship.)
In an attempt to build allegiance with the original group of girls, (Chelley, Olandria, Belle-a Walker, and Cierra Ortega) Huda 'welcomed' Cierra into the sisterhood, sharing that she was a mother — a personal fact she'd just told Jeremiah, which is why she was feeling frustrated with Amaya's choices.
Weaponizing sisterhood to separate the girls from Amaya is not friendship. It's as if this season's cast read the SparkNotes of last season's success without really contextualizing what it means to uphold friendship against the real enemy — the men in the house constantly gaslighting them.
A week later, during episode 12, we see Charlie Georgiou pull Amaya for a chat to explore a potential connection — after his partner Hannah Fields was making out with bombshell Pepe Garcia. Amaya claimed that Charlie was moving off of impulse, but more importantly that Hannah is one of her 'closest sisters' and that would be her 'biggest betrayal right now' — the 'right now" being the end of week two in the villa.
Charlie earnestly shares that while he may be moving off of emotion in response to Hannah, he deserves to explore multiple connections. Amaya tearfully reiterates that she's 'too close to Hannah' to do that to her. Moments later, in a confessional, Amaya shares that she could potentially be sent home because she hasn't formed any other connections. She adds that maybe 'if the story was different,' she'd consider Charlie, but she didn't want to change her 'moral compass.'
Based on the too-quick formation of this 'girl squad,' it's evident that the contestants are trying to take a shortcut to loyalty island when nothing's been earned yet. It's almost as if they've all forgotten the primary reason why they're on Love Island — and it has everything to do with PPG.
PPG's success last year was a gradual climb. As each new week passed we saw through subtle and grand gestures how their sisterhood became infallible. It wasn't on day one and it surely wasn't finalized by day twelve. Lest we forget the small fights between JaNa and Leah over the indiscernible Connor Newsum, something fans still bring up in shock when they see that the two are still friends after the villa? JaNa and Leah made mistakes when it came to how they handled exploring a connection with the same man, but they resolved their issues through honest communication. Small tiffs are bound to happen throughout the six-week social experiment that is Love Island, but acting as if women you've just met owe you more than the men you're actively pursuing isn't how you form a sisterhood.
After season 7 episode 12's fallout, it is painstakingly clear that forming a 'sisterhood,' especially one that operates with dogmatic loyalty, has actually become more harmful than helpful for all the girls in the house. As the women carefully walk on eggshells to soothe Huda's deteriorating emotional state, we're watching in real time how poorly-built, forced closeness is disrupting everyone's villa experience.
The friendships they're forcing onto each other — that are rightfully valued in the outside world — are magnified to an uncomfortable dimension in season 7. The contestants are taking the best parts of PPG, Liv and Kaylor, and even the Casa Amor girls, and perverting it into something else.
I'd much rather watch a show filled with morally gray, self-aware women open to the idea of building real connections with the other women on the show, all while following the main mission of Love Island: pilfering romance and affection from a large assortment of people at the same time.
Further, on a show where there are only five to six women in play at a time, trying to form an overarching group sisterhood isn't realistic. PPG was a trio and Liv and Kaylor were a duo — this idea that all the season 7 women should have undying allegiance to each other defeats the purpose of dating multiple people. Toes are bound to get stepped on, and not everyone can be in your corner all summer long.
More times than not, a friend to all is a friend to none. Sisterhood comes with time and real bonding, not forced cliques. Just because you repeatedly say it, doesn't always make it true. No one wants to be the girl who cried sisterhood.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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